Faculty of Computer Science and Information Systems, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor 81310, Malaysia.
Sensors (Basel). 2012;12(1):650-85. doi: 10.3390/s120100650. Epub 2012 Jan 9.
A wireless sensor network is a large collection of sensor nodes with limited power supply and constrained computational capability. Due to the restricted communication range and high density of sensor nodes, packet forwarding in sensor networks is usually performed through multi-hop data transmission. Therefore, routing in wireless sensor networks has been considered an important field of research over the past decade. Nowadays, multipath routing approach is widely used in wireless sensor networks to improve network performance through efficient utilization of available network resources. Accordingly, the main aim of this survey is to present the concept of the multipath routing approach and its fundamental challenges, as well as the basic motivations for utilizing this technique in wireless sensor networks. In addition, we present a comprehensive taxonomy on the existing multipath routing protocols, which are especially designed for wireless sensor networks. We highlight the primary motivation behind the development of each protocol category and explain the operation of different protocols in detail, with emphasis on their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, this paper compares and summarizes the state-of-the-art multipath routing techniques from the network application point of view. Finally, we identify open issues for further research in the development of multipath routing protocols for wireless sensor networks.
无线传感器网络是由大量传感器节点组成的，这些节点的电源有限，计算能力也受到限制。由于通信范围受限且传感器节点密度较高，传感器网络中的数据包转发通常通过多跳数据传输来实现。因此，在过去十年中，无线传感器网络中的路由选择一直被视为一个重要的研究领域。如今，多径路由方法在无线传感器网络中得到了广泛应用，通过有效利用可用的网络资源来提高网络性能。因此，本调查的主要目的是介绍多径路由方法的概念及其基本挑战，以及在无线传感器网络中利用该技术的基本动机。此外，我们还对专为无线传感器网络设计的现有多径路由协议进行了全面的分类。我们重点介绍了每个协议类别的主要开发动机，并详细解释了不同协议的操作，重点介绍了它们的优缺点。此外，本文还从网络应用的角度比较和总结了最新的多径路由技术。最后，我们确定了开发无线传感器网络多径路由协议的进一步研究中的开放问题。
